faderift | OPEN ↠ HARING EVENT

OPEN ↠ HARING EVENT

WHO: All
WHAT: WINTER IS HERE
WHEN: Haring 15-Wintermarch 1
WHERE: The Gallows, Kirkwall
NOTES: You can use this post as an event-style mingle log, or just use it as background information for your RP elsewhere!

It's been a chilly month already, but in mid-Haring the temperature suddenly plummets. One day it's merely cold, and the next morning the Inquisition wakes to frost on the inside of the window panes and an icy draft whistling through every crack in the tower's masonry. Downstairs, the pipes that feed the bathing chambers and the kitchens creak in the walls, loud enough to be heard even out in the courtyard, where they run beneath the stones, and around midday, when the sun has failed to raise the temperature above freezing, a blocked pipe finally gives, cracking open to spill water across the central court and send it running down side passages. The whole area floods several inches deep and almost immediately begins to freeze, presenting at first a gigantic, treacherous slush puddle and, after a few hours, a sheet of sheer ice.

Melting a safe path from door to door and laying down sand or wood to keep it from becoming slick again is a simple enough undertaking, but before the entire courtyard can be thawed, someone appears with ice skates—and that’s a better idea, surely, for at least a few days. Anyone who complains about the frivolity can be assured it’s good exercise, not to mention good training for a force that may have to travel or fight on ice in the future.

Temperatures remain cold enough that even some parts of the harbor begin to freeze, first just at the calmest edges of the shoreline, and then the more protected nooks and crannies of the bay, inlets and the spaces between piers and beneath docks. It snows most days--not real storms, just a couple inches here and there--little enough for the window to blow most of it off the icy plain of the courtyard and other wide open, paved spaces, accumulating on branches and in alleyways, and creating growing drifts in corners and against walls.

After a week or so actual chunks of floating ice begin to fill the narrow channels of the harbor, threatening smaller and less-sturdy vessels, and the situation in the poorer parts of the city begins to grow dire. With the Viscount's blessing, Inquisition teams (particularly mages) are called in to help. Some are assigned to the docks, to clear ice that makes landing and unloading treacherous, others to help escort ships into harbor by melting a path ahead. Others are sent into Lowtown to clear ice and snow and to provide warmth and medical attention where needed. At least one mage is sent with each team, and while many neighborhoods are pleasantly surprised and grateful for the quick work fire glyphs make of cold hearths and frozen streets, a few are unable to overcome their distrust, and refuse the teams entry, determined to take care of their own without the help of dangerous outsiders.

In the last week of the year, a true blizzard strikes, snow falling steadily for more than a day, blanketing the city at least three feet deep. Digging out the Gallows will be a group effort, and most non-essential trips outside the base will be cancelled for a few days until travel is less difficult, while those who reside in the city or elsewhere may be encouraged to stay a night or two in the fortress so they might continue to work without traveling through the storm. But on the first day of Wintermarch the First Day feast goes on as planned, with modest but plentiful food and ale served in the Gallows' dining hall for anyone who wishes to celebrate the new year.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I can take you there. The office is in one of the outbuildings, though I'm not exactly sure which one. Maybe near the armory? We'll find it." No sooner has she finished speaking than she starts to slip, only to find herself steadied even as her body flails, turning towards him to fall into his chest. Whoops.

"Oh! Sorry!" She can't help but giggle at the picture they make, her practically flinging herself at him like this and he not even in a pair of skates. Her hands search for a safe spot to push back off of him as her cold cheeks turn even more pink. Maybe she can blame that on the cold weather.

"It's so good of you to help me; I shouldn't be repaying you by trying to knock you over, right?"

And suddenly she was pressed against him, very very close. He felt his body go ridged at the close comtact, but willed himself to stay rooted so she wouldn't fall. His grip moved to her upper arms, and he attempted to steady her while his face went uncomfortably warm with a flush. He could hear his heart hammering in his chest, and he swallowed hard.

She had a knack for getting closer to him than he was at all used to. He didn't know what was appropriate to do in this situation.

"Wo-worry not. I am hard to knock over, or so I've been told," he managed to choke out after she created a little distance between them.

At first she worries that perhaps she's insulted him. Maybe the Galadhrim get annoyed at young people flailing about at them? But then she takes note of his flushed face and the way he stutters, and has to remind herself that he still considers himself to be young. Her blush doesn't go away, but now she's smiling a little too, better understanding.

"Ah, well, I'm still sorry," she says softly, taking a moment to smooth fingers over his cloak where her grasping fingers have wrinkled it. Then she moves her hand down to take his again. It worked well for them before, until she became distracted and moved ahead.

Turning is still difficult for her, but with someone to brace against, she's able to move into a new direction.

"The quartermaster should be this way. Now, who told you that you were hard to knock over? It sounds like there's a story there."

With a slow shaky breath he tried to recover from the rush of adrenaline. With her now a little farther away, he could collect himself. From what he could gather from their conversations, the Dalish were more lax with personal space. He assumed that this amount of contact was in no way abnormal for her, so he tried to clamp down his own anxiety at his inexperience. He enjoyed their conversations immensely, and he would not wish to be the cause of ending them.

He continued to let her guide him, mindful of the placement of her feet as they shuffled over the ice. He watched as she grew more confident in her strides, but her hand was still clamped firmly on his.

"My brothers-" he said a little haphazardly and then tried to keep his breath more even. "I believe I mentioned them before? During training, they often tried to topple me over, with little success. I got very good at reading them fast enough to dodge out of the way. Not that they were ever very subtle."

Now that they're making progress, she keeps her eyes on their path ahead, giving him time to collect himself. The Gallows' courtyard is full of out buildings dedicated to various necessities, like the armory, training area, infirmary, and gardens, though sadly the latter is getting buried in snow right about now. Around each building, there's a bit of bare stone showing where mages have melted the ice away, or industrious people have chipped it away with shovels, though most people are heading in and out of buildings still in their skates. Ellana figures she'll do that too. They should only be at the quartermaster's for a minute.

"Mmm hmm, though I don't know their names." She hadn't thought to ask before. "What does training involve?"

Now nearly at the right place, she doesn't notice the strange green foliage clinging to the wall of the building, ready to jump out.

Haldir saw her pause and look at the bare ground around the building she was keen on entering. The ice around had been cleared, and he realized her predicament.

"Would it be easier for me to carry you inside?" His stomach flipped a little at the thought of having her near, but he worried she would turn an ankle if there wasn't any ice. He extended his arms out to her slowly, trying to judge her reaction.

"Oh! Well, I was planning on just walking in, but I haven't tried walking in skates yet." The same thought occurs to her, especially since she doesn't have especially strong ankles. It would be pretty easy to overbalance on the cobblestones.

"Maybe... carrying would be safer. If you don't mind, that is." He seriously just offered, but here she is worrying about the inconvenience anyway.

With a nod as an answer, he heasitantly scooped her up, supporting her legs and back while she could secure herself around his neck. She was very close again, and he felt his cheeks color. He looked slightly up to keep himself from having to make eye contact, fearing it would make him blush even more, and tried to keep her from being pushed up against his unyeilding armor. He decided to continue where their conversation had left off in an atempt to stave off awkwardness.

"My brother's are called Rúmil and Orophin. And our taining was fairly intensive. Only the very best fighters could join the ranks of the Galadhrim. I had to be proficient in unarmed combat, sword and shield, and I had to be exceptional with a bow. I learned how to travel by the trees, how to move silently, how to track and ambush enemies, and eventually I learned how to command."

"I trained harder than most. Much like you, I felt called to serve. And in order to serve, I had to shape myself into what my lady could find useful. She does not require a protector, but I act as the first line of defence."

It isn't everyday that Ellana gets literally swept off her feet, and she can't help but smile as he carries her the rest of the way.

"Maybe you can give me some tips sometime on how to be more stealthy? I have my own methods, but I'm always looking to improve."

Now that they're at the building, Ellana reaches out, saying, "I'll get it," as they come to the door. Then she opens it up, unaware of a sprig of mistletoe removing itself from the building to latch onto Haldir's leg, starting to crawl upwards.

At the first sensation of constricting force, he yelped and clutched onto Ellana. He could not see what it was that was biting his leg, but he did know that ge couldn't fight off the threat and hold her at the same time.

First, he had to get her out of harms way. He let her legs drop, and then moved away, hoping distance would keep her safe. He felt the thorns of the vines bite into his skin, and he growled. The vines had tangled themselves across both his legs now, and he could no longer move. He drew a dagger from his hip, and looked to Ellana, eyes a paniced.

"Run!" He cried. "Get as far away as you can!" He started hacking at the vines, but the twisting tendrils latched onto his arms.

"What?" she exclaims in alarm, until he's moving to put her down and she can see what's happening to him. A hand flies over her mouth for a moment as she witnesses his struggle, before she composes herself enough to speak.

"Oh, no no! It's that mistletoe stuff! It's been attacking people but it's not deadly, just really annoying and exceedingly hard to remove." Ellana winces a little. "In fact, the only foolproof way to get them off is -- this is going to sound ridiculous -- the person under attack has to be kissed. That gets the plant to let go."

His eyes widened as he stared at her, convinced he'd heard her wrong. His brain and body crashed to a halt, his focus on her now as the vines continued to travel up his body.

"What-what must happen?" He stammered. "I-I don't think I heard..." his face flaired bright red as he let his eyes flit to her lips, lingering a few seconds before looked back to her eyes. "...you correctly."

There was no way she would-would....with him?

"I know how it sounds! But that's what others have said and I don't think they were joking. These plants even try to push peoples' heads together. They'll let go if two people kiss. And then once they're off you, I can light them on fire so they can't attack anyone else." Who knows how many of these plants are still out around the Gallows, but she'll do what she can to get rid of a little of it.

If he's keen, that is. If not, she'll have to get him to someone he would like to kiss.

"Should we try it?"

He could barely hear her over his own heartbeat. He swallowed hard and his eyebrows came together a little.

"I-I've never-" he cleared his throat and let out a quick exhale that came out more like a whimper than I wanted. "I wouldn't want to make you-with me-if you don't want to. I've never- with anyone-before. Never really let that type of situation happen. I-"

He was coming to pieces and cursing himself the whole time. She was beautiful, obviously. As well as being kind, and smart and all together quite lovely. If she was willing to offer this kind of assistance, he would do his best to make it up to her.

But, there may be someone she had feelings for? He wouldn't want to cause trouble for them. His mind raced trying to think of an alternative but the vines kept getting tighter. All he could do was look pleadingly at her and hope that she'd either kissed him or kill him so he could be pit out of his misery somehow.

Ellana's eyes widen in utter surprise. Six thousand years and he's never even kissed anyone. Does that mean he's also never-- No, focus! He's being attacked by annoying little plants. Now is not the time to ponder something like that.

(But she will. Later.)

Even if she had someone, she would still help Haldir now. She would never want to be with someone who became jealous or angry over her helping someone in need.

Pressing a hand to her forehead, she realizes she'll be his first kiss ever, unless he doesn't want it to count. The situation being what it is, she could hardly blame him for that, but she plans to make it a good one so here's hoping he doesn't think it's awful.

"I want to," she confesses, though that could easily be taken as her merely wishing to help. That's part of the reason, yes, but it doesn't hurt that he's immeasurably handsome. Stepping up to him, she's still shorter than usual, but less so in her skates. She doesn't even think about her weak ankles on the cobblestones when there's an elf to save here.

"It's okay. It'll work." A hand is placed on his shoulder, but then she moves it to his cheek to help guide him into the kiss. For all the gossip swirling around about the mistletoe, she doesn't know how deep the kiss has to be to convince it to let go, so she wants it to be thorough. Slowly, she leans in and angles her head so their noses don't collide, then presses her lips to his, eyelids drifting shut.

He watched as her eyes fluttered shut so her lashes kissed the tops of her cheeks. He closed his eyes as well.

The kiss was sweet. Tender. Her lips were soft. Unimaginably soft. He'd never felt anything as soft as her lips in all his years. Her mouth ghosted over his lips, pulling softly, opening him to her little by little. He had no idea if this was at all enjoyable for her, but he could not for the life of him understand why he hadn't kissed anyone before. Why he had not kissed her before. He gave a small sign, and then tried to deepen the kiss.

He felt the vines pull away from him, and his hands were his to move again. His left hand buried itself in her hair, while his right grabbed her around the small of her back, pulling her whole body flush to his. This was anything but sweet, now. It was scalding. He felt weak and powerful all at once. He wanted more of her. Needed more.

He then realized she had in no way given him any indication she wanted anything other than to help him get out of his rather precarious situation. With more willpower than he knew he had, he pulled back from her, terrified he'd taken too many liberties with her kindness.

Oh, this is better than she could have pictured. He's a great kisser and it's his very first one? He doesn't even need to practice! But she plans to keep it short and sweet. Haldir seems like a quiet, reserved person and the last thing she wants to do is overwhelm him or scare him away. It must be hard enough to be a rifter in a land different from your own. Ellana won't add to it.

But then he's freed and she is nearly pulled off her feet as her body crashes into him. She lets out a yelp of utter surprise, because she did not see this coming, but she's also not going to stop if he's clearly giving her the signal that he doesn't want to either. Her hand slides to grip his jaw firmly, ready for more of his addictive kisses, but then he pulls back and she's left a little dazed.

Blinking a few times to clear her head, she then breaks into a huge grin.

"I uh, I guess you liked that, huh?"

Galadriel has avoided the Courtyard whenever possible, with the ice spread across the whole of it she had even less call to wander through, but as she skirts the edge of the courtyard this day she spies something very unexpected. The Captain of her guard was...locked in an embrace with her dear friend Ellana. As Galadriel approaches, to her surprise, he wraps his arms around her and draws her against him, his mouth slanted across hers in a most fervent kiss.

Once they part, Galadriel is but a short distance from them and her expression is something between delight and polite shock. She debates leaving them be and vanishing into the shades of the courtyard but before she can, Haldir spies her over Ellana's head and she is forced to speak.

"I was not aware that the two of you had met; how delightful that you have."

He couldn't speak. He couldn't breath. She had seen him... kissing someone who she had on several occasions called a friend. He was mortified. What could he say to her? He was fairly sure that if she had any anger about his actions, she wouldn't have hesitated to let him know he had erred in her favorite means of communication.

Instead, she stood smiling at them. He had no idea what that meant. But he felt like having Ellana between them was still a wise course of action just in case he needed to climb up the building and run over the rooftops as quickly as he could.

He thought about how to explain to her what had happened, although he wasn't even sure himself, but he feared Ellana's desires were not at all in line with his...very apparent and humiliating obvious desires, which caused him to try to ever so slyly shift the placement of his cloak.

"Lady. I found myself in an...interesting situation with one of the plants and Ellana came to my rescue." His face was surely beet red, and he cleared his throat, unable to actually look Galadriel in the eye.

"Oh! We were-- this is-- um, hello, by the way." Ellana carefully turns towards her friend, since now would not be a great time to break an ankle in these skates. A second ago, she was getting the kiss of her life, and now Galadriel's here, smiling at them. That's good, right? She doesn't seem mad that her guard was being kissed. Maybe she knows about the mistletoe situation already?

"Right. The mistletoe. It attacks people unless you kiss. Then it lets go." Her hand moves up to tug nervously at her hair. Surely a lady so refined as Galadriel has an opinion about the very public display she just witnessed. Should Ellana try and change the subject? Would that help?

"We actually met before. On the rooftops."

"Ah, so this is the second--?" Galadriel's gaze shifts gradually from Ellana, twirling her lovely hair to Haldir with his face red and his composure ruffled. He had tucked himself firmly behind the Dalish elf, keeping her between them, and Galadriel found that unreasonably amusing. Her smile is the brightest and most earnest it has been yet in Kirkwall.

"Well, if it wards off attack, I must insist that you carry on. I should not like to see either of you suffer for lack of kissing."

She cast a sly look at Haldir but, despite his clear nervousness, said nothing to his mind. Ellana, however, she spoke directly to.

Be kind to him, my friend, he is easily overwhelmed with affection and kinder of heart than he believes.

She wanted them to...con-continue? She... wanted him to continue kissing Ellana. He was so unbelievably overwhelmed at everything this situation had become. Ellana had turned away, but he had kept one of his hands on her upper arm, which he now squeezed a little out of nervousness.

He stared pleadingly over Galadriel's direction, but he still couldn't quite bring himself to make eye contact with her. He had a feeling they would need to discuss things at length another time.

But, he desperately needed to discuss the recent turn of events with Ellana. In detail. With no one else present.

Galadriel's comment makes Ellana's mouth drop open. She had no idea her friend was so... so cheeky! And she also really has no idea where to go from here, because it really had been meant to just get the mistletoe off him, but she's not going to deny that it was an incredible kiss, and she already likes Haldir quite a bit. Whatever happens, she's certainly not going to be unkind. Ellana knows better than most what it feels like to love too much.

But as she's trying to think up what to say back to Galadriel (and hoping the woman can't hear the rush of thoughts since Ellana isn't projecting them out to her), the glowing elven woman simply gives her a knowing look and walks off, somehow making a trek across the ice look effortless.

"Bye," she calls after, still confused about what just happened. She doesn't turn around; not yet. Ellana needs a minute.

...he is easily overwhelmed by affection, Galadriel had said. Ellana will have to be careful, or she might scare him off.

He was still in shock, both by the turn of events, and by his Lady's comments. But, the thing that concerned him most was her silence afterward. He let his hand fall away from her arm softly, and tried to remain calm.

His poor impulse control had once again landed him in hot water. It was supposed to be fleeting, a simple thing. But, he got caught up in the moment, and obviously went too far. Galadriel had meant well, but he doubted she would appriciate her comments. Self doubt and guilt nawed at him as he stared. He moved his hand to reach out, but thought better of it, and instead took a step back.

"I'm sorry. I-I went to far. I know your intention was different than what my lady perceived. Galadriel only seeks to chide me. She has... lots of opinions on my personal life at times. If you wish me to leave I can. I did not mean to...take advantage. I do not wish to cause you discomfort."

"You don't have to do that," she's quick to assure him, carefully turning back around to face him. "I think -- depending on the person -- you probably should have asked first, but luckily it was me and I didn't mind it." Ellana continues nervously playing with her hair, but a shy smile appears. "I liked it. It was a good kiss."

It's a bit of praise coupled with an admittance that not everybody likes boldness. He's just lucky that she's able to handle it. Another person might have given him a slap for it.

"Did you still want to visit the quartermaster?"

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